unironedman

As yesterday’s missive was really about our brief holiday in Paris, and therefore about as exciting as watching a stranger’s wedding video (and I don’t mean one of those set-ups on YouTube where the bride and groom suddenly perform some crazy break dance routine, or Ed Sheeran pops out of the cake, singing ‘Galway Girl’ – no; I mean one of those really feckin’ boring ones where the most exciting thing is Auntie Ida trying to dance the Macarena with the Best Man), I thought I had better give the runners out there a palette cleanser. I mean, you wouldn’t think we were in the middle of a marathon training programme, would you?

So, to recap on training, we are back on track. The triathlon two weeks ago, followed by the trip to Paris, put a dent in the stats. Up to then, we had done very well, getting all our runs in. When you’re clocking everything you do, you don’t want to have gaps in your stats. But hey, Mo Farah I am not, so we’ll soldier on.

As it turned out, the trithlon was a decent workout, and then we walked the legs off ourselves in Paris (did I mention we went to Paris?).

And so it’s business as usual again, back at the ranch. The week just finished up shows a total of 91k, which is bang on the money. That’s made up of recovery runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (10k, 10k and 13k respectively), sandwiching speed work on Wednesday and a tempo run on Friday. Sunday is always a long run. Today was the longest so far, at 32k, and was for Mark, my running partner, his longest run ever. He seemed to fair well.

Each of these runs is important for certain reasons, as they help build speed and stamina into your legs. But when it comes to the long run, perhaps the most important thing we get out of them is the psychological boost we get when we complete them. Monday is a rest day, and that too is important.

Completing a marathon, once we have done the work, becomes very much about belief.

Onwards and upwards all you good people out there, whatever it is you are up to!